That Coffee Shop Loyalty Card You Carry Around is Going Digital

At left you’ll see our beloved “Lobsta Mobsta” card from one of NYC’s best sources for an authentic lobster roll, Luke’s Lobster. As you can see, we are one stamp away from glory in the form of free shellfish.

On Monday, Google announced that it will acquire the “digital loyalty card” startup Punch’d, a company that lets you store and update these “buy 10 get 1 free” cards on your smartphone, and was (obviously) founded by a bunch of tech dudes who love food.

We think this is a great idea, considering how these things always bulk up our wallets and get lost when we’re only two coffees away from the free coffee light at the end of the coffee-buying tunnel.

(On a bigger scale, this is just another part of Google’s strategy to replace Groupon, credit cards, and money entirely.)

While we’re on the topic, let’s celebrate another awesome loyalty card that pays homage to a classic video game cheat: